Taking Precautions, Saving Lives

9/11 seems so long ago, and yet it seems like yesterday. One hero that day was Rick Rescorla. He was the security officer for Morgan Stanley, the financial giant that occupied 22 floors in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Mr. Rescorla insisted on repeated evacuation drills and other precautions for all employees, much to their dislike. He anticipated the airplane attacks and figured out ways to get people out of the building as soon as trouble happened.

He is recognized here because he emphasized safety, planning and training, the work of any good safety officer. He felt strongly that employees needed to rely on themselves and on each other during an emergency. To give them the tools and information they needed to save themselves in the event of a catastrophe, he insisted on a number of procedures:

repeated evacuation drills

employees pairing up to keep track of each other

always using the stairs for drills, in preparation for an emergency

training on how to act in case of a fire

Even visitors who came to Stanley Morgan for conferences, classes and meetings knew where to find the nearest stairway because he insisted they be shown and be included in drills.

Executives protested loudly that these practice drills interrupted important meetings. Mr. Rescorla was a large presence, a former paratrooper in the British Army, a police inspector and a platoon leader in Vietnam. Even those executives followed his drills.

Unheeded Warning

In 1985 Rick joined Dean Witter Reynolds, which later merged with Stanley Morgan. From the start he worried about terrorist attacks. With his military training, he had an informed perspective of the dangers at the company’s conspicuous location.

After conferring with a friend experienced with counterterrorism, he accurately predicted the garage bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. He recommended that the company relocate out of the World Trade Center, and preferably out of Manhattan. When management decided not to follow his recommendation, he decided to empower the employees to take care of themselves in the event of an attack.

Workplace Precautions for Fire

OSHA and local and state regulations make clear that employees need to know what to do in case of a fire. These include an evacuation plan as well as drills for evacuation.

Using these principles of safety training, this security officer had over 2000 employees drilling up and down stairs on a regular basis. When a problem happened, his people were ready. On 9/11, Morgan Stanley lost six of its 2,687 employees. Another 250 visitors taking a class also made it to safety.

Though World Trade Center announcements after the first airliner crashed into a tower told everyone to stay at their desks, Rick told everyone on his watch to follow the evacuation procedures immediately. After getting the employees out, he went back into the building to make sure no one had been left behind. The tower came crashing down and he was one of many who died that day.

So here’s to Mr. Rescorla. Safety precautions are good things to exercise. And so are decency and courage. You can learn more about Rick’s story at his memorial website. As you watch the video below, please remember him and the other unsung heroes of 9/11.

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safetyBUILT-IN is the safety-leadership learning and development division of SCInc. We believe sustainable safety performance is best achieved through a core-values based safety culture, and that culture must be driven by leadership. Our safety-leadership programs are competency-based, and focused on performance outcomes. We believe in building capability and ownership into our client organizations—as well as sustainability into our programs—so that our clients can continue running those programs long after we’re out of the picture. Our emphasis is on building better leadership presence, better leadership communication and better leadership coaching by first building relationships of trust with people and learning how to engage them on the level of their core values and beliefs.

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“The safetyBUILT-IN team provided our employees with a perspective on how to view safety such that they want to be involved in leading safety in the organization. The program gave us simple, understandable tools and techniques for leading and coaching not only safety but every other discipline we deal with in the work environment. I… Read more ““Changed Our Mindset About Safety””

“Outstanding workshop! It was far more than a safety meeting. This will have an impact on our operation. I am anxious to send my next level of management at the next opportunity.” Joe Gednalske, Director of Product Development

“Strong and clear leadership course that brings practical and effective methods to identify opportunities, resolve them, coach, and drive results. Clear, meaningful subject matter, and fantastic materials. Love the ‘do’ focus of the course and the ongoing feedback–and the facilitator actually practices the methods during the course! Informs the mind, but superbly connects to the… Read more ““One of the Best Experiences …””

“Facilitator was one of the best, if not the best presenter and speaker that I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. I believe this training is important and pertinent enough to allocate the appropriate needed expenditures to ensure that ALL SUPERVISORS AND LEAD PEOPLE from every location in the pipeline attend. I was… Read more ““All Leaders Need to Attend””

“This was one of the best leadership workshops that I’ve been to in my career (simple and effective tools)! It will help drive safety as a core value. I think it will really make people better leaders as a whole. That will drive our overall business in the right direction, starting with safety.” Shawn Myers,… Read more ““One of the Best Leadership Workshops””

“I have attended other safety workshops in the past, but none has ever laid out the skills building and leadership qualities like this one. I was fully engaged the entire two days. I can’t wait to practice these skills.” Phil Laudolff | General Mills

“What stood out to me the most was that coaching based on core values is more effective than citing compliance to policies. Every supervisor and manager should attend!” Pat Hodgson, SHE Manager | BAE Systems

In my 25 years of EHS work, I have never seen so much positive response from a Safety program. Typical responses identify the fact that this is so much more than Safety Training – it is Leadership training that will help them in all aspects of their employee engagement efforts. I believe, with continued leadership… Read more ““Transformational””

“Facilitator was one of the best, if not the best presenter and speaker that I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. I believe this training is important and pertinent enough to allocate the appropriate needed expenditures to ensure that ALL SUPERVISORS AND LEAD PEOPLE from every location in the pipeline attend. I was… Read more ““All Leaders Need to Attend””

“What stood out to me the most was that coaching based on core values is more effective than citing compliance to policies. Every supervisor and manager should attend!” Pat Hodgson, SHE Manager | BAE Systems

In my 25 years of EHS work, I have never seen so much positive response from a Safety program. Typical responses identify the fact that this is so much more than Safety Training – it is Leadership training that will help them in all aspects of their employee engagement efforts. I believe, with continued leadership… Read more ““Transformational””

“Strong and clear leadership course that brings practical and effective methods to identify opportunities, resolve them, coach, and drive results. Clear, meaningful subject matter, and fantastic materials. Love the ‘do’ focus of the course and the ongoing feedback–and the facilitator actually practices the methods during the course! Informs the mind, but superbly connects to the… Read more ““One of the Best Experiences …””

“This was one of the best leadership workshops that I’ve been to in my career (simple and effective tools)! It will help drive safety as a core value. I think it will really make people better leaders as a whole. That will drive our overall business in the right direction, starting with safety.” Shawn Myers,… Read more ““One of the Best Leadership Workshops””

“I have attended other safety workshops in the past, but none has ever laid out the skills building and leadership qualities like this one. I was fully engaged the entire two days. I can’t wait to practice these skills.” Phil Laudolff | General Mills

“Being a manager of safety comes with many challenges. I have learned over time that the traditional style of safety compliance training, such as videos, generic presentations, etc., may not be totally effective for ensuring our employees understand the pertinent information presented, and how to utilize that information as part of their every day life.… Read more ““Gives Employees a New Way of Thinking …””

“The safetyBUILT-IN team provided our employees with a perspective on how to view safety such that they want to be involved in leading safety in the organization. The program gave us simple, understandable tools and techniques for leading and coaching not only safety but every other discipline we deal with in the work environment. I… Read more ““Changed Our Mindset About Safety””

“Outstanding workshop! It was far more than a safety meeting. This will have an impact on our operation. I am anxious to send my next level of management at the next opportunity.” Joe Gednalske, Director of Product Development